The Program Evaluation Division (PED) is a central, non-partisan unit of the Legislative Services Commission of the North Carolina General Assembly that assists the General Assembly in fulfilling its responsibility to oversee government functions. The mission of the Program Evaluation Division is to evaluate whether public services are delivered in an effective and efficient manner and in accordance with the law. The Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee oversees formal evaluation of state agency programs by the Program Evaluation Division.

JLPEOC MEETING

The Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee is scheduled to next meet on September 17, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building. JLPEOC is scheduled to meet again the following day, September 18, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. in the same location. Items on the agenda include presentation of reports in PED's forthcoming four-part series on the efficiency and economy of inmate healthcare services.

LEGISLATION UPDATE

The 2017–18 legislative session of the North Carolina General Assembly has ended. The General Assembly enacted three session laws with language derived from PED report recommendations. Our Legislative Tracking resource lists all enacted and unenacted legislation pertaining to PED from the recently-completed session.

CURRENT EVALUATIONS

The Program Evaluation Division now provides two means of examining state programs—evaluations and measurability assessments. Whereas evaluations are in-depth studies conducted of existing state programs to determine whether they are effective and efficient and in accordance with the law, measurability assessments determine whether new and existing state programs collect the performance information necessary to inform any future inquiries into their effectiveness and efficiency.

The General Assembly enacted the Measurability Assessment Act, NC G.S. 143E, in 2016. The law requires the Program Evaluation Division to contract with independent assessors to assess whether new or existing programs or pilot projects are “measurable”, i.e. lower risk and capable of reporting return on investment. Assessors will assess programs or pilots designated directly by the General Assembly or by the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee through the statutory PED work plan. The law states that agencies and programs assessed will reimburse PED for the cost of the assessment.